10 Celebrities Who Got Busted For Tax Evasion

What is it with celebrities and the IRS? Seems like every time we turn around, another boldface name has run into trouble with the taxman. Most recently, Ja Rule pleaded guilty to tax evasion, but Al Pacino, Snoop Dogg and Forest Whitaker also are currently in hot water with Uncle Sam.

It is a common belief that the Internal Revenue Service deliberately targets celebrities in order to keep the rest of us in line. (The IRS didn't respond to a request for comment.) And there may be a few legitimate reasons why celebrities just can't seem to pay (or even file) their taxes. Surrounded by agents, managers and accountants, celebrities who have made piles of money fast sometimes don't keep a close enough watch on their handlers.

Other celebrity tax "mistakes" are just like the knuckle-headed errors we make — failing to file an extension, mixing up personal and corporate expenses, forgetting to include all sources of income. It may actually be harder for A-listers to figure out what they owe, given the erratic nature of their pay cycles and big windfalls.

Whatever the reasons, click through TFT's rendition of Tax Troubles of the Rich and Famous.

Ja Rule

AP Images

Money owed: $1 million plus penalties

Prison sentence: 2-3 years

The rapper and actor pled guilty to tax evasion this month in a Newark, N.J., federal court. Admitting that he hadn't paid tax from earnings in 2004 and 2006, Ja Rule will pay more than $1 million in back taxes and penalties and serve two years in prison.

Though the MTV Video Award winner did catch a break: He will be able to serve his federal sentence concurrently with the two years he'll already be serving in New York for attempted possession of a weapon stemming from a 2007 incident — the same incident that put rapper Lil Wayne in behind bars for nine months.

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Martin Scorsese

Wikimedia Commons

Money owed: $2.85 million

Prison sentence: None

The Academy-Award winning director recently made headlines when it was revealed that the IRS had a levied a $2.85 million lien against him. And in a plot twist worthy of Casino, the bill was delivered on Valentine's Day.

A spokesman for the director has since said that any monies owed had been paid in full and the matter was now closed. But it isn't Scorsese's first run in with the IRS — he's had a series of big liens since 2002, according to the New York Post.

It's been reported that Scorsese's tax troubles stem from his relationship with Kenneth Starr, his financial advisor from the nineties until earlier this year, just months before Starr pleaded guilty to a $33 million Ponzi scheme and was sentenced to more than seven years in prison.

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Willie Nelson

Wikimedia Commons

Money owed: $16.7 million

Prison sentence: None

Let's not forget that the country singer, enthusiastic defender of marijuana and friend of President Jimmy Carter, is still the only person to admit to smoking pot in the White House. So his 1990 tax troubles had a distinct counter-cultural rebel vibe.

The IRS seized his property claiming he owed $16,700,000 in back taxes. Nelson had settled with Uncle Sam for $6 million but when he couldn't come up with the money, the Feds sent his possessions (including six houses) to auction.

In classic outlaw style, the only asset Nelson sent into hiding was his guitar, Trigger. Nelson also received an undisclosed settlement from the Price Waterhouse accounting firm to settle claims that they'd involved the Farm Aid founder in bad tax shelters.

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Wesley Snipes

Wikimedia

Money owed: $17 million

Prison sentence: 3 years

On December 9, 2010, Wesley Snipes, the actor best known as the vampire in Blade, reported to the McKean Federal Correctional Institution to serve three years for the failure to file federal taxes for three years.

Convicted in 2008, Snipes also owed the government 17 million dollars in back taxes. Even now, Snipes charges he was targeted by the IRS for his celebrity and given a disproportionately long sentence compared to similar convictions.

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Richard Hatch

AP Images

Money owed: $2 million

Prison sentence: 4 years

Fifty-two million people watched Hatch take home the Survivor's first million-dollar prize, so it only makes sense that the IRS knew about it. In January of 2006 Hatch was convicted of failing to list his winnings on his tax return and was sentenced to jail and home confinement for more than three years.

Yet Hatch, now on Celebrity Apprentice, was again busted in 2010 for … failing to file his taxes. Sentenced to nine months, he began serving his time this month.

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Richard Pryor

Wikimedia Commons

Money owed: unknown

Prison sentence: 10 days

If there's any lesson in the late, great comedian Richard Pryor's experience with the strong arm of the IRS, it's that honesty is definitely the best policy.

In 1974, Pryor, hot off the release of his breakthrough comedy album (title unprintable) stood in a L.A. courtroom charged with tax evasion. Rather than an elaborate defense, Pryor simply told the judge; "I forgot." He served just ten days.

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Leona Helmsley

Wikimedia Commons

Money owed: $7.1 million

Prison sentence: 4 years

Years before the proclaimed Queen of Mean bequeathed her Maltese, Trouble, $12 million for his care after her death, the hotel magnate made headlines over a big fight with the IRS. In 1986, the Federal Government charged the billionaire with tax evasion after bitter contractors, alleging they hadn't been paid by Helmsley, turned her in to the IRS for work they'd done at her home but charged to her business.

Hemsley's housekeeper testified that her employer had boasted; "We don't pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes." She was convicted, fined $7.1 million and sentenced to four years in federal prison, although she served only 18 months.

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Spiro Agnew

Wikimedia Commons

Money owed: $39,500 (in 1973 dollars)

Prison sentence: none, but was asked to resign

It seems amazing that any politician (We're talking to you, Tom Daschle and Timothy Geithner) would mess with the IRS after what Spiro Agnew put him self through. The only VP in American history to resign over criminal charges, Agnew pleaded "no contest" to a charge of failing to pay taxes on $29,500 as part of a plea deal that closed investigations into alleged bribery, tax fraud and extortion while in office and required Agnew's resignation.

His departure also precipitated the first use of the 25th amendment of the Constitution, which dictated that House Minority Leader Gerald Ford become vice-president. And thanks to Watergate, we all know what happens after that.

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Nicolas Cage

Money owed: $13 million

Prison sentence: none

Say what you want about Nicolas Cage's transformation from Academy-Award winning actor to the wizard in The Sorcerer's Apprentice, but the man's a money machine. The estimated worldwide gross from his movies is $2.1 billion and he made $40 million in 2009) it seems hard to believe.

But it turns out there is a way to spend every dime of your money, no matter the number of dimes. Cage had 15 houses, four yachts and a Gulfstream jet. The actor lost his home in Bel Air to the bank last year and the IRS auctioned off a few more. But have no fear, Cage is scheduled to star in seven movies over the next two years.

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Marc Anthony

Wikimedia Commons

Money owed: $5.9 million

Prison sentence: none

The top-selling salsa artist of all time and wife of Jennifer Lopez was slapped with two eye-popping liens from tax authorities. First, New York State hit him with a $1.8 million bill held against his home in Long Island, N.Y., then the IRS demanded $1.6 million against the same property.

And it's only been four years since the singer paid the IRS $2.5 million in back taxes for failure to file income tax returns. Reps for Anthony report that a settlement has been reached, and that there won't be a trial or threat of jail time.